Let me tell you about a fabulous little discovery, which is totally notnews to some of you. I discovered coconut flour!!! Yes!!!

Coconut flour is something that I heard about long time ago. The seed was planted and then I just had to buy some. And there it sat…. waiting in my pantry… waiting… and waiting. I didn’t really know what to do with it. I figured I would get around to it. Well. Let me tell you. Now that I have, this stuff is amazing!

There are not many things I eat these days that don’t make me stop and think… “what is this doing for me?” “What are the benefits?”. With coconut flour, you get a low carb, gluten free, fiber packed, low glycemic protein boost… along with lauric acid – an immune booster. Coconut flour is simply coconut meat, dried and ground into flour form! A little goes a long way, as it soaks up moisture quickly and expands. There is a texture that is notable. You can’t ignore it, but I like it! You’ll adjust. Just be careful. Sometimes it can be a bit dry. There are ways to get around that.

There are many ways to try coconut flour, you can bake with it, thicken sauces, bind foods and so on. Do the research upon baking as it does act different than other flours.

Oh! Let me share something that will rock your vegan gluten free coconut flour baking world! Forget the eggs! So many coconut flour recipes call for lots and lots of eggs (just stab me in the heart… that’s easier to handle) due the dry nature of the flour. Two words – AQUAFABA BABY! If you don’t know what aquafaba is, I suggest you Google it. It’s the vegan miracle of 2015! Egg replacer extraordinaire. Ah the creativity of the vegan kitchen. Love it!

Right now, there are a few things I like to do with coconut flour. I add a small amount to my green smoothie to thicken and add bulk. The extra fiber keeps me fuller longer. I bind protein bites and bars with coconut flour and I also made an amazing two ingredient coconut pudding that my family went crazy for the other night. It took all of 3 minutes to make. I decided that it should be my next post since I’m on a coconut kick. It’s so simple that it almost feels silly to post about it, but just wait. It changed my life last week ;) It could change yours too.

Let’s talk about salads and how I incorporated coconut flour for a healthy boost. Being that Spring is here, my salads are changing with the season. I like my salads lighter, fruitier and sweeter this time of year. I always prefer no oil dressing and I usually, most often times, make my own. It’s too EASY with a Vitamix!

Right now, we have Mandarin oranges coming out the Wazoo! Don’t you? Take advantage of these while you can. I am pretty happy that my son loves these mandarins because I couldn’t get a steady flow of vitamin C into this kid to save my life. He is quite picky. Or, he just likes to give me a hard time.

I decided to make myself a quick dressing using a few of these mandarins along with white balsamic, that like the coconut flour, has also been sitting in my pantry… just waiting.

This turned out fantastic! Use more or less coconut flour depending on your consistency preference. Creamy is relative, because I wouldn’t call this smooooth creamy… I would call this a textured creamy. But I know what it’s doing for me and it tastes great to boot!

This is a recipe for about one to three servings. For every 2 tablespoons of coconut flour you get 5 grams of fiber, 8 carbs and 2 grams of protein, 2 grams fat. Coconut flour is also high in Iron. For 2 tablespoons it’s 10% of the daily value. I see why athletes are going crazy for coconut flour.

Mandarin Coconut Dressing

Ingredients

2 Mandarin Oranges

1/4 Cup White Balsamic Vinegar

1 to 2 Tablespoons Coconut Flour (start with 1 Tbs. I used 2, but think most people would prefer 1 to 1 + 1/2)

1 Tablespoon Agave or 1/2 Tablespoon of Agave 5

Dash of Sea Salt

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a high speed blender, such as a Vitamix. Blend on high until smooth. Adjust salt and consistency.

Spring Salad

Ingredients

A few handfuls of Power Greens such as a blend of Baby Spinach, Baby Kale, Red and Green Chard

Chickpeas

Pistachios

Fresh Raspberries

Cooked and Cooled Red Quinoa

Favorite type of Sprouts

Directions

Toss the above ingredients in the desired quantity and top with fresh made Mandarin Coconut Dressing!

My cousin Rocks! She started researching food production and she took her new shock and awe and did exactly what I did… she turned that energy into something productive. She is very much on board with the vegan/raw movement and she is making the important and necessary changes for the health of her family. I am so proud of her!

Hard at work in the kitchen, she’s experimenting and trying new dishes that not only taste good, they are good for you. The best part is, she shares her good finds with me. She is an awesome cook! How exciting that I could just relax at her family parties, knowing I can graze on anything at the table! Could there be a family raw/vegan restaurant in our future? We might just change our family’s reputation from the family of Hair Stylists (although she isn’t a Hair Stylist, she escaped that gene, lucky her) to the family of passionate and healthy foodies. I am all good with that! My other cousin, sister and dad are also on the right train… My dad being very much vegan now, and wow did he turn his health around!

Recently, my cousin served this Tempeh recipe she found, at her daughter’s birthday party. It was so delicious! I went home and had to make it, but of course I didn’t have the exact ingredients on hand… so this is the twist I came up with. It got rave reviews! At least I hope my husband wasn’t just being nice. He happens to be a great taste tester (and sport) for my recipes. Some days he gets a little luckier than others! And we are still talking about the food here.

Fill a medium saucepan with 2 cups water. Rinse quinoa well in cold water and add it to the saucepan. Bring to a boil and add concentrated vegetable broth. Stir, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook down until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, add the Power C smoothie to a bowl. Add the grated ginger, Tamari, rice vinegar, maple syrup, ground coriander and garlic. Mix this and set it aside.

Cut the Tempeh into 3rds, then diagonals, then turn pieces on their side and slice in half again to make thinner triangles. You could even cut these again to make them more bite sized.

Heat the coconut oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat. When heated, add the tempeh and cook 5 minutes per side until golden brown.

Add the Power C mixture and simmer for 10 minutes, being sure to turn the tempeh while simmering.

Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork and add a handful of chopped mint to taste

Serve the tempeh over the minted quinoa, spoon the sauce over the top and finish it off with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of sea salt, which really helps to bring out the flavors in this dish. Garnish with mint leaves if desired.

It’s been in the teens and single digits for days here in Chicago. I’m cold. I have a bad case of cabin fever and I’m craving some sort of comfort food. I was looking around the kitchen wondering what to do with that butternut squash just sitting over there… waiting for me. Stuck inside as it snowed yet again, it was a good time to be creative.

I was very impressed with the aroma’s that filled the house while this was roasting. I’m going to keep this in mind for a beautiful dish to present to guests. One whiff and they are sure to feel special.

Optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

First drain tofu ~ While tofu is sitting and draining, make your marinade. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Keep in mind that roasting will bring out the sweet maple flavor and the salty flavor ends up a little more diluted. I added salt just in case.

Cube your tofu and add to the marinade, cover and refrigerate for about a half hour. Preferably longer.

Next, while the tofu is marinating, toast the walnuts and set aside. Peel the butternut squash. Be sure to use a good peeler to prevent an unnecessary headache. This is where I grew frustrated in the past and would hesitate to make squash recipes. I recently found an awesome peeler called the Titan, that really does the trick! Cut the peeled squash in half lengthwise, clean and then cut into 1/2 inch cubes. The smaller the pieces the faster it will roast. You want bite size pieces for this dish.

When the marinade is ready, add the cubed squash, red onion and raisins to the tofu marinade and fold gently to coat everything. Be careful not to break apart your pretty tofu cubes. Once coated, transfer to a very shallow baking pan. I used a Jelly Roll pan. You can pour on every last drop of marinade or use a slotted spoon *see note below. Spread out evenly and put on middle rack of the preheated oven and roast for 12-15 minutes. Remove and carefully use a spatula to flip over as best as you can and put it back to roast for another 12-15 minutes.

When done roasting, transfer it all to a beautiful serving dish. Serve alone, over Quinoa or Brown Rice and top with the toasted walnuts for delicious added texture.

I divided my soy sauce in half with Bragg Liquid Aminos to reduce sodium. You can use all Soy, all Braggs, Tamari, or Nama Shoyu or whatever you prefer. After all, cooking is your art.

*NOTE: You can make a side of Quinoa or Short Grain Brown Rice for this dish. Or it tastes great on it’s own. I added 1/4 cup more oil to equal 1 cup and made sure to use every last drop of marinade to roast this so I would have extra sauce to serve over brown rice, which gives an Asian feel or Quinoa for a modern comfort food feel. If you prefer to eat it alone, you may consider using a slotted spoon to lay it out on the roasting pan so it won’t end up too saucy or oily in the end.

I made this new dish tonight that was very inspiring! You can enjoy this as an appetizer or main dish. Cinco de Mayo is around the corner, and this dish would be perfect for a party.

This dish was adapted and altered from the back of a Trader Joe’s Organic Red Quinoa box. Thank you Joe! The dressing recipe was altered from a Betty Crocker recipe I found. Thank you Betty! This could be served as a salad or as a main dish like I enjoyed it tonight. The warm red quinoa was amazing. This dish is beautiful, different and deliciously vegan!

Updatedon 6/24/13 – to make life easier. I just made this dish again over the weekend and tweaked the measurements and rewrote the directions to make it simpler to follow. I am happy to report, this dish was a hit as usual!

Directions

Cook quinoa with broth according to package directions.

While quinoa is cooking, combine beans, corn, avocado, tomatoes and onion, lime zest and cilantro. Add the Cilantro dressing (recipe below) and toss gently. Taste, and add sea salt as needed to bring out the flavors. It may not need much more. I added a little over 1 tsp more.

When quinoa is cooked, drizzle with olive oil, mix and spread evenly onto a large platter and top with the bean salad. Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

Cilantro Dressing

1/3 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Tbs Finely Chopped Cilantro

3 Tbs White Wine Vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Ground Cumin

1 – 3 tsp Agave Nectar

Place all the above ingredients into a container with tight fitting lid and shake. Taste and adjust.

Let the quinoa cool before topping it if serving as a salad, or top it and eat it warm right away! Mmmmm. Mmm